The joys of foraging

I am generally happiest when foraging. By modern standards foraging is an eccentric pleasure based on an unusual, specialized knowledge. It is a loners’ sport for those who enjoy the quiet sounds of wind in the leaves and birds singing along. But it is not just the wildlife that keeps one company in the woods. When we pick wild plants, we do so alongside countless generations who have survived through just that practice. The knowledge of wild foods is one of the oldest continuous threads of human experience.

Such a pleasure is not contrived by advertising, nor is it a phase of childhood development. The joy of wild crafting (harvesting from nature) is a deep connection to the ancestral lineage mentioned above, to the cycles of nature and to the language of plants.

Wild foods, to those that enjoy them, have a certain perceivable “glow” that can be sensed simply by being in their presence and can be felt when they are eaten. I am convinced that the nutritional benefits of wild food are greatly superior to commercial foods and even to garden vegetables. Just as the Chinese tradition favors ginseng from the wild over cultivated roots, I prefer my medicinal herbs, vegetables and mushrooms from Mother Nature herself.

Every spring refreshes with maple syrup, then dormant roots like burdock, followed by morels and a handful of other early mushrooms, all opening to a cascade of old friends like violets, ramps, fiddleheads and nettles. As spring continues we get Japanese knotweed, milkweed, poke and the flowers of black locust.

There are many different parts of plants that are edible. Early spring (and then again late fall) offers roots such as burdock, oyster plant, and spring beauties. Then shoots appear: milkweed, poke weed, and knotweed. Of some plants you eat the flower shoots: winter cress and cattail (from cattails we get many edible portions—starch from the rhizomes, vegetable portions, tender leaf-bases, immature flower stalks and pollen). Yes, indeed, we can use pollen as a food, including pine pollen.

Foraging for wild foods is a great way to better know the trees, not only through their flavors, but also because harvesting requires attention to detail, often transient details. Basswood, or American linden, is particularly noteworthy as a tree with leaves that can be plucked right off in the springtime as a kind of lettuce substitute. Slippery elm provides a mucilaginous bark that can be used as a medicinal and as a breakfast cereal. Spruce tips can be cooked as a vegetable as well as brewed into beer. Maple provides syrup from the boiled sap, as do black birch and others. Hickory and oak provide nuts. And serviceberry (aka Juneberry, or shadbush) provides berries. Of course, among the trees are those planted for fruits—some of which (like the apple) have gone wild. Pictured, at the right, is sassafras, which is used as a seasoning, a thickening, a beverage, a vegetable and a medicinal herb.

There are many different plants in our area and it can take a lifetime to study them. Rather than attempting to learn each plant and its uses, beginners can focus on the handful that are the most edible in their area, along with the handful to be most avoided because they are poisonous. There are a couple of good guides on poisonous plants available, as well as a few that are out of print. I also enjoy studying old farm bulletins that include descriptions of poisonous plants.

Regarding mushrooms as well as plants, there are only a handful of deadly poisonous species. Many more are of varying degrees of toxicity (not to mention that any substance in excess can become poison). Learn the most poisonous species first, in order to develop an understanding of the “red flags” to be avoided and avoid any unfortunate errors. Likewise, instead of learning all the potentially edible plants that you might turn to in the end times, learn first the handful that are most delicious and available to you.

In order to learn about plants one should study constantly. There is always some botanical wonder to take note of, to witness and to develop an understanding of—especially this time of the year when there is a continuous succession of leaves and flowers coming forth. Spring is so full of wild edibles, but because the plants grow so quick it is easy to miss what is sometimes a very narrow margin of availability. I just noticed a poke weed plant about as tall as I am, and it seems like only a couple days ago, I was looking at some plants in a different area that had only just begun to emerge. So, you have to keep your eye out. You also have to use the large array of field guides available to us. There are an increasing number of books dedicated to wild foods and many wonderful field guides to wildflowers, trees, grasses, ferns... and many of them can be found in our region. You will also develop an appreciation for the more technical material available for botanists and serious students of nature. Of course, those interested in fungi will also want to invest in a good collection of mushroom field guides. Some have a specific focus, perhaps on a single type of regional mushroom, such as Boletes.

I started learning originally from the Peterson field guides. At one point when I drove a van, I kept two crates of books in there—one for plant books and one for mushroom books, so I was always ready to look up a new find in my travelling reference library. Now I have so many books it would take an awfully big van to tote them around. My favorite go-to is “The Plants of Pennsylvania” by Ann Rhoads and Timothy Block. When I don’t have it nearby, I often wish I did (like a good pocket knife). Every forager needs a good pocket knife. I also recommend a pair of clippers (pruning shears), hori-hori (digging knife), a collapsible shovel (best are the old Army ones) and a small root-digger (like a large screwdriver or short section of rebar), all of which can be easily carried. Foragers will also want a digging fork (spading fork), shovel and loppers, though you will often prefer to not carry these larger tools.

I hope I have encouraged some of you to try your hand at foraging. It’s a real pleasure and an opportunity to always be learning something new.

[Nathaniel Whitmore regularly offers nature or foraging walks to public and private audiences. On June 19 at Lacawac Sanctuary, near Lakeville, PA, he is hosting a walk on wild edibles. Later in the month there will be two BioBlitzes (24-hour identification sessions)—one with the Monroe County Environmental Education Center in Blakesly, PA and the other, the Upper Delaware Bioblitz, to be held in the Town of Tusten, NY at the Ten Mile River Scout Camp. July finds Whitmore in New York City as well as in Tunkhannock, PA on the 22nd. In September, there will be mushroom programs scheduled at Lacawac and Promised Land State Park in PA. Information about these events and more are detailed on my website: www.nathanielwhitmore.com. The Delaware Highlands Mushroom Club has monthly events; see: www.dhmushrooms.org.]

[An urgent word of caution: knowledge about what is safe and what is unsafe to eat is essential in foraging. Do not eat anything without fully researching it or showing it to an expert, and if you have any uncertainty, do not try it.]